Gas hydrate technology: state of the art and future possibilities for Europe

Interest in natural gas hydrates has been steadily increasing over the last few decades, with the understanding that exploitation of this abundant unconventional source may help meet the ever-increasing energy demand and assist in reduction of CO2 emission (by replacing coal). Unfortunately, conventional technologies for oil and gas exploitation are not fully appropriate for the specific exploitation of gas hydrate. Consequently, the technology chain, from exploration through production to monitoring, needs to be further developed and adapted to the specific properties and conditions associated with gas hydrates, in order to allow for a commercially and environmentally sound extraction of gas from gas hydrate deposits. Various academic groups and companies within the European region have been heavily involved in theoretical and applied research of gas hydrate for more than a decade. To demonstrate this, Fig. 1.1 shows a selection of leading European institutes that are actively involved in gas hydrate research. A significant number of these institutes have been strongly involved in recent worldwide exploitation of gas hydrate, which are shown in Fig. 1.2 and summarized in Table 1.1. Despite the state of knowledge, no field trials have been carried out so far in European waters. MIGRATE (COST action ES1405) aims to pool together expertise of a large number of European research groups and industrial players to advance gas-hydrate related activity with the ultimate goal of preparing the setting for a field production test in European waters. This MIGRATE report presents an overview of current technologies related to gas hydrate exploration (Chapter 2), production (Chapter 3) and monitoring (Chapter 4), with an emphasis on European activity. This requires covering various activities within different disciplines, all of which contribute to the technology development needed for future cost-effective gas production. The report points out future research and work areas (Chapter 5) that would bridge existing knowledge gaps, through multinational collaboration and interdisciplinary approaches

Circular Economy und Klimaschutz. Schlaglichter

Um den Klimaschutz zu verbessern, muss der Ressourcenverbrauch auf ein nachhaltiges Niveau gesenkt und der Treibhausgasausstoß minimiert werden. Das Denken in Kreisläufen ist eine entscheidende Voraussetzung. Circular Economy versucht, Kaskadennutzung ohne Abfälle und ohne Emissionen zu erreichen. Die Circular Economy soll sich dem Idealbild eines regenerativen Systems bestmöglich nähern. Sie erweitert die Kreislaufwirtschaft, deren Ursprung vor allem im Abfall- und Entsorgungsmanagement mit Schwerpunkt auf Sammlung und Sortierung von Abfällen liegt, um Aspekte der Herstellung und Gestaltung kreislauffähiger Produkte. Für die Nachhaltigkeit der Zirkularität spielt der Anteil erneuerbarer Energie in der Circular Economy zudem eine wichtige Rolle

Dynamic simulation of complex reaction schemes and biochemical applications in stirred tank reactors with respect to imperfect mixing

This paper presents a model of stirred tank reactors, which is able to solve the dynamic mass and energy balances on the basis of certain fluiddynamic, simplifications. One possibility is to give a macroscopic flow field as an input, but it is more suitable to fit local distributions of velocities to the reactor model. To close the model, empirical knowledge for the required model parmeters is included in form of empirical equations

Generic object-oriented modelling, simulation and optimization of dynamical systems

This chapter describes the generic object-oriented modeling, simulation, and optimization of dynamical systems. Dynamic simulation is an important tool for the design, optimization, and control of nonlinear dynamic or complex systems as they appear in chemical engineering. Such simulations are based on detailed mathematical models, which are much more effective than conventional models regarding a precise description of reality. The editing of such highly detailed models belongs usually to the most laborious and tedious tasks of technical and chemical engineering. Objective of the chapter is the development of a general modeling tool that is able to generate model components automatically, which are documented as and provided with a self-generated interface for model parameterization. To realize this approach, it is necessary to develop a problem-related strategy that takes into account modern software engineering techniques—such as object orientation, rapid prototyping, and so on—to minimize developing time without decreasing run-time quality and stability of the modeling system

Digitalisierung, Industrie 4.0 und das Internet der Dinge: Vortrag gehalten beim Unternehmerfrühstück der Gemeinde Alpen, 28.11.2017, Alpen

Eine Einführung der Begriffe Digitalisierung, Industrie 4.0 und Internet der Dinge; Klärung der Begriffe und warum diese auch für KMU relevant sind; Erläuterung an Hand von Praxisbeispielen